Equipped with a camera that rises like a periscope above the body, Astro can be controlled remotely and monitor all rooms from a perspective similar to that of a person wandering around the house.
La product presentation page clearly describes the role of Astro: whoever buys it can, at any time, take control of it remotely and observe the house from the inside as if they were present there.
Added to this is that Astro can operate a proactive action, contacting the owner when he registers a nuisance noise in the apartment or when he detects the presence of a stranger within the walls of the house.
In the presentation videos and images spread online by Amazon it is possible to see Astro go into the kitchen and frame the stove with the camera: as in the most popular clichés, we imagine the concern of the owner, anxious to know if by mistake he hasn't left some gas knob open.
If today most stoves have valves that interrupt the flow of gas when the flame is out, and if in many apartments there are detectors capable of preventing any disaster, what is the use of a robot that sends live streaming with its camera pictures of stove knobs?
With the launch of Astro, Amazon has decided to address a specific target audience: people who are distressed by the idea of not being able to maintain control of their apartment and the assets in it.
It must be said that there are already effective alarm systems on the market capable of guaranteeing our safety and that of our belongings. Astro, however, does something more: it projects our presence inside the apartment, giving us the sensation of being there and of being able to control the situation with our eyes, of being able to inspect every corner of the house and of finally being able to calm down if everything is fine.
Although it is permissible to worry about one's belongings, the problem is that sometimes, from a certain anxiety, toxic and self-harming behaviors can arise. Astro is aimed at precisely this type of person, offering as a solution that of logging on to the cell phone, having the impression of moving around the house for the time necessary to regain one's serenity.
If, as Amazon hopes, the Astro project were to establish itself, it will end up being taken for what it is. And for what it wants to be. That is to say a new little obsession capable of capturing people's attention and pushing them to maintain a morbidly addictive relationship with their cell phone.
We are at the dawn of a new discipline that we could defifinish Anxiogenetic: the basic idea is to offer people a new object of desire capable of pleasing and satisfying their anxieties and dispelling their stubborn and somewhat morbid fears.
It would be acceptable in the perspective of a virtuous evolution, but unfortunately Astro does not offer the public solutions to their anxieties, it is rather a mere sedative capable of giving a great - albeit temporary - feeling of satisfaction. A satisfaction that will soon disappear to leave room for problems again.
Article of Gianfranco Fedele
An ophthalmoplasty operation using the Apple Vision Pro commercial viewer was performed at the Catania Polyclinic…
Developing fine motor skills through coloring prepares children for more complex skills like writing. To color…
The naval sector is a true global economic power, which has navigated towards a 150 billion market...
Last Monday, the Financial Times announced a deal with OpenAI. FT licenses its world-class journalism…
